Critical Thinking and Action

Black Diamond Self-Talk

Saturday, December 03, 2016

My wife and I started investing in buy-and-hold rental real estate a few years ago. We are looking to sustain a very comfortable retirement, as well as build a good additional piece to our legacy. Having abundance to us, means we have more to share or give away. We've been able to build a small nest egg, through some traditional employment we've had. And, we were able to leverage some of that to get us started. We're also helping other people create additional income from home. But, for now, I want to relate a story that just happened to us today, about our real estate.

We've owned this one building for around 2 1/2 years now. We are not slum landlords by any means. Rather than take all possible income out of a building, instead, we treat it as the valuable long-term asset it is. When there are repairs, or upgrades that need to be made, we invest in them. We still take a profit, so we still have to weigh whether an investment is prudent now, or can wait a little bit of time. But, we keep it on the plan, and do what is needed.

We have also developed a rapport with our tenants. From the moment they apply, we try to connect with who they are, and what they need, for a home. In fact, some form of the word "home" can be found in the name of each building's LLC. We've also shown some pay it forward kind of acts. We have gifted baked pies to all of our tenants on Thanksgiving. It was inspiring to us, when we were buying the pies, and whipped cream to go with them, in the store, a woman asked if we were having a party. Why were we buying so many pies. When we told her that we were buying them for our tenants, she told us to wait. She ran off into the store, and came back with a bottle of sparkling apple cider, for each of the pies, paid for them, and gave them to us to include.

As great as that is, there's more. Today, as my wife was collecting rent from one of our tenants. The tenant told her that this was the last time she would receive that amount from them for the rent. Curious, my wife asked the tenant what they meant. She was then informed, that starting next month, the tenants were going to pay us an additional $50 a month. They went on to state, that they appreciated the way we treated them, and, the building they consider their home.

Draw your own conclusions, or, be inspired, and change just one thing you do. Or not. I am again amazed at the blessings received when giving has been for the big picture and providing value for others without expectation of receiving anything in return. I am reminded, again, that giving is far better than receiving. And, it's contagious. Together, let's start our own viral explosion of paying it forward, and paying it back. Any challenge will be overcome, and awesome achievements will be accomplished when more of us share our abundance, lend a hand up, and give in a true positive spirit of love.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Reading the chapter this week inspired me to express a story of my journey.

Version 1 - The Symbolism

"I was lost, but now I am found".

I planned. I followed the plan. I had a dream. I followed the dream. It lead me to a plateau. I accepted the plateau. I fell asleep.

I got lost in the execution. Performing what needed to be done, while pleasurable, led me to forgo dreaming.

I was waiting to die, but I was in a fog and didn't know.

Sparks of light ignited the fog, but my sleep was too deep. Brighter and brighter the sparks became, but the darkness prevailed.

My mind didn't die. It didn't rest. Each spark restored pieces of the dreams from the past. New dreams began to form. But, the darkness prevailed.

As I began to awake, I recognized the plateau I had accepted. I begin to see the paths beyond the fog and the clouds.

The clarity is crystal, in bursts. now more and more frequent. I am gathering steam, moving fast again and building my legacy.

Version 2 - The Facts

I went to school. I got a degree. I got a job. I got married. I started a family. I started a company. I became a consultant. I got another job. I got stuck. I accepted the plateau.

I discovered network marketing, along the way. It was the first spark. It was also the source of the darkness that prevailed. Lack of success and failure put water on the fire and doused the spark. No fire remained.

Another opportunity. This one's fresh. But, again, the same lack of skill and leadership. More darkness.

Truth. Brilliant clear, powerful truth. We all know this when we hear it. We first have to listen, to hear it. We have to silence or squelch the noise to hear. Once heard, the vibration always rings true. Leadership skills, mental clarity, time ownership and mastery, not a product, company or opportunity are the path to fulfillment.

Multiple times a week, every week, we gather to keep the fires hot, the focus clear, and the vibration, rhythm and song alive.

Mentoring for Free and this 30 Day Mental Cleanse, has re-equipped my mind. Full clarity has returned and control has been restored.

I am grateful to everyone who participates. Together we mastermind a world full of miracles empowered by Infinite Intelligence.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Failed Dream

Do Not Suffer Alone Any More

Teamwork, Skills, Belief, Success

Are you sold on the network marketing or mlm concept, but struggling? 95% of those involved in network marketing and mlm make less than $10 in a month. Are you one of them, like I was? There are so many that truly believe in the marketing concept, it should just posper based upon that belief. But it doesn't. Aside from the scams and ponzi schemes there is the general lack of knowledge and skill on how to build this kind of business and further, how to maintain, sustain and grow it.

In the earlier days of this industry it became clear that personal development plays a role. I think the industry is still pretty immature. Many so called sponsors to this day will retort "Watch this video", "Read this book", or worse, "Buy this program". All without any clear plan or course to follow. Paroting what they were told they basically just "winged it" and got it to sort of work for themselves, so, they reason, you might get lucky too. Too bad that what worked for them, that one nugget or even stack of clues, is likely not to work for the next person. How do you build a business, based on personal development with no instructions?

How did we get into trouble? Having a lack of leadership in actual leadership training seems to be part of this problem. Much of the personal development that is out there had focused upon Sales and being a Sales Person. This is more of a psychology and personal relationship business than anything to do with product or service sales, or even a company itself. The foundation of personal development can be traced back to books like "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill, and, "How to Win Friends and Influence People", by Dale Carnegie. Many of the expansive texts, videos, recordings and other training material today, found in the field of personal development have their basis in just some small part of either or both of these books. Derived from these can be found the masterful teaching of Tom "Big Al" Schreiter, who took these teachings and evolved a system of 25 skills, where we learn exactly what to say and exactly what to do. When things are not going as we'd like, we know why, and exactly what needs to be done to fix it.

Imagine being able to interview 500 of the most successful people and capture a series of habits and traits that all of them used to attain their success. That is exactly what Napoleon Hill did. Dale Carnegie's book, foundation and legacy continues to inform and teach the skills of true leadership.

Is there a solution?

Learning the skills that successful network marketers and MLMers use to achieve and maintain their success is the key. Also staying associated and connected with those who have found this out, built a structure, and continue to stay close to the fire of skill building for mutual success. If you are interested in or already involved in network marketing or mlm, I invite you to download this ebook as a gift. It is the mastermind compilation of 36 years of network marketing and mlm success and 26 years of full time income of one man and his team. The goals are simple. Build it once, build it big, and have it pay your children's children. This is truly the dream of network marketing and mlm, is it not? Using the skills we teach and practice live in 10 calls every week, we stay close to the fire of inspiration and motivation for successful action.

with gratitude and in service,

Tony Koker

P.S. There is a price to entry. Download and read the ebook, then there are a couple of recorded skills calls to listen to. A couple brief investments of time and the whole system will be made available to you. And, just like the ebook, no companies or products are mentioned at all. No pitch. No credit card. Just a few minutes of your time for some value.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

The Brain

I was again amazed today, when I found that thoughts I just had were echoed by a post by two different people I know, at exactly the same moment they were creating their work, but each at two different times today. It is exactly like we were thinking the exact same thing, at the same time. But, the emotional thoughts I experienced were disconnected from the stream of thought I was having at the time, and were momentary diversions.

In the first instance, I was looking through a site that has 13 million photographs for a picture for a blog post. In order to be effective, I've found that searching on terms relevant to either the headline and/or content is helpful in keeping this task quick and efficient. I don't have all day to find a good picture. As I choose my picture, this other picture really caught my eye. It was a thought I had received from the ether, telling me that this other graphic, although not on mark for what I was doing right now, would be perfect to something else. I took a mental note of that, but was not driven to select it and download it now, but to perhaps return later. I have subsequently seen this exact picture on another's blog post, which was clearly posted just after my experience at the photo site. When I saw it, I instantly recalled my contemplation earlier and inspired to include the story in this week's lesson.

The second instance was similar. In addition to the photo site, there are other social media services that provide pictures that can be used for a meme or blog posts, or even marketing and advertising copy. I was in the process of scanning one of these when I experienced the very same emotional thought. My attention was drawn to a picture, that was not relevant for what I was researching, but impressed upon me that it was great for another purpose. The purpose was beyond my grasp, at the time. But, when I saw the graphic in use, just a couple of hours later, my emotional thought was completed with the notion that the effort was completed and the desire effect fulfilled. Upon reflection I believe I experienced excerpts of the process used by another, and the completed message was mentally communicated significantly before I actually saw the finished product. I believe I heard the echo of their epiphany or aha moment.

Like tuning a radio, our thoughts scan the frequencies for sympathetic vibrations. The more people that identify and echo a thought, the louder the volume. The volume can also be increased by using stronger positive emotional bonds on the thought. Squelching then negative emotions, which often drown out the positive thoughts, also helps to increase the positive volume. Amplifying the positive emotions through habitual reinforcement is crucial to avoiding distraction or outright derailment.

Unlike radio, proximity seems to have little role. We can be a world apart, yet experience the vibration inside. I think this can be called spiritual, too. It is deeply internal, yet, at the very same instant, it is extremely external, reaching across space and time.

with gratitude and in service,

Tony Koker

P.S. How often have you said Your self-talk today? Tune Your mental harmony for Your success now.

P.P.S. If you would like to explore other perspectives on this topic, in our weekly mastermind, please follow this link.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Everyone knows that Story Tellers make the most money in our
industry. Our company did over 500 million dollars in total sales
for 2013 and will double or triple that number in 2014.

We opened France last year and one of our top leaders qualified
for $85,000.00 in GOOD Bonuses, she was #80 out of the Top 100
income earners for the entire year of2013.

Our company is opening Spain, Denmark, Finland and Germany
February 1st 2014 also Norway and Switzerland March 1st 2014.

So we are looking for that special person that sees the impact
they can have when they have the infrastructure of a 12 year
old rock solid Company and Team behind them.

Our Team is Success Team Builders with over 36 years of success
in this industry. We have a proven step by step On-Line and Off
Line system and tools to create the duplication that anyone can
follow for success.

If You believe You are that person e-mail us back today so we
can set up a mastermind call to answer all Your questions......

tony@tonykoker.com

Remember, You cannot do this business by Yourself, You need
a coach a mentor a proven duplicable system and Team to walk
with and to Believe In You.

Monday, January 06, 2014

Ruled by the Clock

Time always wins. Tick, tock, tick, tock time marches forward. Sooner or later, we will stop, but it will not, just like taxes.

Awareness. Are you awake enough to know what you're doing? Often I find myself in auto-pilot. I find myself focused only upon what I have to be doing. The alarm goes off. Maybe I can snooze it, once or twice, but mostly I have to resign myself to getting up and getting ready. Have I mastered that task list that determines my fate, or am I following someone else's lead? Have I convinced myself that satisfying their demands also serve me and my family and friends? These are questions I find time to ponder and attempt to use a slight edge to implement.

Always busy, doing something. Even sleep is something. If I don't get enough sleep, I cannot think clearly enough to be sure I've taken a vivid review of the task list.

Wasting time, productive use?

Productive is also subjective. Productive for whom? Them or you and yours?

The order is important, too. Priority and time both need to be considered. Some things have windows of time where they need to be accomplished. Some things are preparatory - they need to be done in advance of some point in time, like a scheduled meeting. Others have to be done now, like right after a meeting, to capture what steps will need to be accomplished before the next meeting or event occurance. Of course priority should never be ignored.

You and Yours, then short-term emergency, or, at lease, short-term priority escalation or life-long priority? Emergency or short-term priority escalation, in relative terms, that I use, relates to this whole concept of being able to really only perform ONE task at a time. And, manage but a handful of tasks. This handful should be the most important. Survival, comfort, luxury, perhaps that is the order you choose? Or, do you consider it more noble to forego some level of comfort for the survival benefit of others?

Even survival is subjective. Water, food, clothing and shelter likely lead the list, but the whole requires much, much more. There's the physical, which was just (mostly) addressed, but there is also the emotional and the spiritual. How often do we neglect or even fail to recognize these? True work and life balance really requires that we find opportunity to satisfy the needs of the whole.

So. Are you really multi-tasking? Are you really busy doing what's important to you? Or, are you just busy, doing just enough, and passing time to a future event (looking forward to something)?

Thursday, January 02, 2014

Getting Ready to Get Ready

One of the personalities we discuss in our thrice weekly calls is called Green. Although we all exhibit traits from all personality colors, we have a primary or root color. I am a green, primarily. This has been great for me as an engineer and for making plans, but it can be a handicap for working with people. I believe, however, that by reviewing my habit when I have successfully turned these plans into successful execution, I reveal a method for getting out of a mode of getting ready to get ready.

I plan. I do this well. I can anticipate all of the possible challenges and threats and devise countermeasures to overcome or avoid them. This is often the place where I get stuck. So, I have to move on and decide that the blueprint is sufficiently robust and just move on.

When I envision the outcome, truly see it in my mind, I create a point of focus. The more vivid the picture, the more intense I can believe in it's realization. I picture the result in many of its stages and the initial framework is built upon to finally reveal the finished product. Layer upon layer of progress is illustrated in my mental motion picture.

Now I must jump. I need to take action. All of the well worn habits of preparing need to be done now: getting dressed properly, packing my bag, leaving the house, and must be done with mechanical, automatic process.

I GO. I do it. I get into a zone of execution. I rest. I resume. I focus on the images of my mental motion picture, of the finished product, and just keep in action mode. Are you like me and get stuck getting ready to get ready? Or, have you progressed to action and success?

with gratitude and in service,

Tony Koker

P.S. With the help of others in our mastermind group, I hope to relate similar breakthroughs for the obstacles encountered by the other 3 personality types. And you can also join in this process with us: http://bit.ly/MLMskill